Nixon Wins Re-Election; Spence Concedes Governor's Race

Incumbent Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced that Republican challenger Dave Spence called to concede the race.

“Today, people at the ballots put Missouri’s business above the political squabbling,” Nixon told a room packed with supporters at The Pageant on the Loop.

“They told us we’re moving in the right direction,” Nixon said to loud cheering and applause. “You know what else they said? ‘We must keep moving.’”

Nixon said instead of demonizing the other party or pitting labor against corporations, Democrats and Republicans must work together to make Missouri competitive in the worldwide economic market.

“We have to embrace the common values we all share,” he said. “Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow, we get back to work.”

Those among more than 500 people said that Nixon hit the right chords with Missouri workers.

Merrie Berry, of Ellisville, said Right to Work issues were big in her decision to support Nixon, noting he vetoed a bill that would have made Missouri a Right to Work state.

“I’m a union member and I don’t believe Missouri should become a Right to Work state,” said Berry, who is with United Food and Commercial Workers (UCFW). “It lowers wages and it lowers education.”

Berry said she also liked the fact that Nixon opposed a proposed law that would have required voters to have a photo ID.

“I believe everybody has a right to vote,” she said.

St. Charles County autoworkers Dan Meyer, of St. Peters, and Dennis Czajkowski, of O'Fallon, said they supported President Barack Obama and Gov. Jay Nixon because they supported and saved the auto industry.

"We wouldn't have jobs if it weren't for them," Meyer said. "Republicans wanted to throw us out with the trash."

Before the election, Democrats said they believed Nixon did well in pre-election polls because he was “shunning the Democratic party.”

One respondent in a Patch Blue Arch survey of Democrat party leaders said Spence's "attempts to turn Nixon's ties to Democrats into election fodder can't get traction when Nixon is so obviously shunning the party."

Another Democrat respondent said Nixon was doing well in pre-election polls because he is a “low-key Democrat.”

Nixon’s political ads frequently focused on issues such as job creation, securing auto manufacturing jobs, passing a balanced budget—which is a state Constitutional requirement—and the right to own firearms.

During his acceptance speech Tuesday, Nixon said many in Missouri grew up hunting and fishing, enjoying nature.

“I’ll be out there with them on the first day of deer season,” he said.